Sadha, Anniyan

Sada was Vikram's romantic interest in Anniyan, where she plays Nandhini, a girl with her own dreams, who finds the staid Ambi boring but long for romance with Remo, the ramp-walker.

She had ample scope to showcase some acting skills as well, confronted with the frightening state of her beloved's multiple-personality disorder. Sadha might not have set the screen on fire with her histrionics but her fresh looks won the day.

Shriya Saran, Sivaji

Easily among Shankar's most glamorous heroines, Shriya made Tamil film history of sorts when she bagged a project with the director in Sivaji with superstar Rajnikanth as her co-star, no less!

Naturally, in a film that boasts a star of this magnitude, a heroine's scope is considerably less, but Shriya found a way to combat this: her explosive glitz and glamour routine, combined with colourfully picturised songs, upped the oomph factor. And Shriya became the year's 'It' girl.